NFL Films, HBO Select Hard Knocks 2024 Participant (2024)

Caleb Williams was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after months of pundits predicting the Chicago Bears would select the USC phenom atop the board.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Williams' NFL debut would come at home against the Tennessee Titans. The Week 1 clash at Soldier Field will feature more than just Williams' debut for the Bears. Receivers Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze will also make their first appearance in a Bears' uniform, as will running back D'Andre Swift. Williams should have more than enough weapons to run up the score early and often throughout the upcoming season, especially now that he's officially been named the starting quarterback.

However, for fans that want an in-depth look at Williams and the Bears, they can tune into HBO later this summer. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Bears will be featured on the flagship offseason version of Hard Knocks this year.

The newest season of the show will run throughout the preseason, with the first episode airing on Tuesday, August 6.

Bears To Feature On Hard Knocks For First Time

Despite selection criteria changes, Chicago was most attractive Hard Knocks option

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Earlier this offseason, the league and HBO announced sweeping changes to all versions of Hard Knocks.

There will be a new "offseason" version of Hard Knocks that follows a team from the start of the offseason through Training Camp. The New York Giants will be the first team to be featured on that version of the show, which will premier later this year.

The biggest change to the existing versions of the show is what will happen during the season. After complaints that teams on the in-season version of Hard Knocks were at a competitive disadvantage, the league agreed to show an entire division to assuage privacy and invasiveness concerns.

As for which of the eight divisions will get picked, there haven't been any rules or restrictions announced, other than that a division cannot get selected if it has been featured in either of the prior two years. That means every division is up for grabs in 2024, and the more competitive ones (the AFC North, the NFC West) will likely be picked first.

As for the offseason version of the show, the restrictions that prevented a team from being selected as the subject of that season have been amended slightly. Now, the only way a team can avoid the show is as follows:

• The team has participated in the offseason version of Hard Knocks in the past eight years (down from ten years).
• The team has a first-year head coach (unchanged).
• The team is set to participate in the current season (or next season) of the in-season version of Hard Knocks (new).

The biggest change is the restriction that no longer applies: teams that make the playoffs are no longer immune from being selected for a two-year stretch. Now, teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers will be eligible for the show, despite their usual regular season prowess.

And yet, the league still determined that the Bears were the richest goldmine to follow. Williams will be a huge draw alone, though the team's expected proximity to competitiveness only makes them even more tantalizing for the HBO crew.

The team finished tied for last in the NFC North last season with a 7-10 record, though they may be the single most improved team in the league after their flurry of offseason transactions. Their division will prove competitive in 2024 - the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions both won a playoff contest last season - but the Bears might be the most fun team to watch.

Source: Adam Schefter